Marsh prefiles bill

Senate Pro Tem Del Marsh

State Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh of Anniston is hoping to close a loophole that allows legislators to resign from one chamber of the Alabama Legislature and immediately take a job lobbying the other.  Marsh has prefiled a bill for the upcoming legislative session that would tighten Alabama's "revolving door" law and ban legislators from lobbying either chamber for two years after they leave the Alabama Legislature.  If a legislator or other public official resigned before their term was up, they would be banned from lobbying their former office for the remainder of that term, even if it was longer than two years, under the proposal  Alabama’s "revolving door" statute prohibits a public official from taking a paid job lobbying the entity where they served for a period of two years.  However, a 2003 opinion from the Alabama Ethics Commission said since the House and Senate are considered separate entities under the ethics law, that a lawmaker could lobby the opposite chamber from which they served without running afoul of the law. The state ethics chief supports the effort to change the law.